Melbourne gears for four year games countdown

In the wake of Australia's recent sporting successes, sport and major events will generate a wide miscellany of tender opportunities for Australian business, from construction firms to image consultants and IT groups, for years to come.

Melbourne's Commonwealth Games, from March 15-26, 2006 is already a catalyst for a very diverse range of tenders and contracts. At the big end there will be several major construction contracts, including the upgrading of the northern side of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a new 50 metre competition swimming pool at the nearby Sports and Aquatic Centre, and a Games village to house athletes and officials.

Opportunities from sport and major events are not just the province of big construction groups, steel and concrete suppliers, and design architects and engineers. The conscious promotion of major events and a long string of smaller sporting expenditures by governments is creating a rich mosaic of potential business in all sorts of business categories.

Just take three contracts directly stemming from the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, as listed in the regular TenderSearch reports. One of these, which closed back in January this year, was for concepts from indigenous artists (who could partner with non-indigenous artists) for a limited number of contemporary sculptures and art installations.

These were for an indigenous art walk in the new $15 million, 8.6 hectare riverside park along the north bank of the Yarra, named Birrarung Marr ("river side") in 2001 to commemorate the original inhabitants. The Wandin-Wurundjeri word "birrarung" means river, and the Bunerong word "marr" means side.

Up to $40,000 was pencilled in for each artwork, with a completed art walk to be launched as part of Melbourne's Commonwealth Games celebrations in 2006.

In February, 2002 the organisers sought service providers for supply, development, implementation, training and on-going support for an integrated budgeting, planning and reporting system. In March, 2002 came an assignment to create the event logo and develop the visual identity program.

Melbourne's Games organisation has been keeping a low profile until the Manchester Games were completed, so as not to divert attention from sporting events in progress. But now that Manchester has completed its successful staging, expect to hear a lot more about Melbourne preparations.

In November, 2001 John Poulakakis, a director of Melbourne's Game Plan Australia, did a detailed updating of the marketing plan for the Games. Poulakakis, former managing director of advertising agency The Campaign Palace, is part of a three person sports marketing consultancy.

Game Plan Australia is an example of sports promotion consultants and events management groups which should be in demand over the next few years, as Australian Governments and business pursue the economic benefits of staging major events and sporting activities.

Events organisation consultants and Sydney Olympics veterans, MI Associates, were asked to review the Melbourne budgeting and planning. Gary Fenton, who was CEO of the Sydney Olympic Broadcast Organisation, was assigned to handle site selection and early planning for the equivalent Melbourne broadcasting facilities for 2006.

On the big ticket side, the $425 million redevelopment of the northern side of the Melbourne Cricket Ground will expand seating capacity to 100,000 fans.

The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic centre, opened in July, 1997, will acquire a 50 metre lap pool with a permanent fabric roof structure. Seating for 3,000 spectators on one side will be expanded to 10,000 spectators for the highly popular swimming events in 2006.

The $50 million project will stretch to a children's interactive water park, flow rider with rapid river, water slides and a Boomerango. This is an extreme water slide, developed by Whitewater West of Richmond, Canada.

A spectacular overseas example is the "Fall of Icarus" boomerango ride opened in 2001 at the WaterWorld water park in Ayia Napa, Cyprus.

With most 2006 sports facilities clustered in central Melbourne, the most convenient positioning for the athletes Games village will be on an inner city redevelopment site, not somewhere on the fringes. Vigorous debate on siting has featured the disused Royal Park psychiatric hospital site, not far from Melbourne University, or alternatively the massive Docklands redevelopment area.

Wherever located, the games village will generate work for probity advisers, architects and facilities planners, surveyors, cost planners and more over the next few years. A study by Cambridge Consulting in the UK estimated the 2002 Games had secured over $1.7 billion of public and private investment for Manchester.

The higher profile for the city would attract an extra 300,000 visitors each year, spending an extra $33.5 million. Games-related trade development projects implemented by a Commonwealth Economic Benefits initiative team would deliver increased trade to 250 local companies.

Australian firms can anticipate a flow of tenders as Melbourne runs through the countdown to the massive parade of 7,500 athletes and officials on barges down the Yarra for the opening ceremony on March 15, 2006.